(5) = Best; (4) = Better; (3) = Good; (2) = Fair; (1) = OK
These abstracts serve as reminders to myself; they serve to "jog" my memory on what a book was all about. That's all. This is not a literary critique, not a social commentary, and certainly nothing profound to warrant further discussion.
(5) = means that I really enjoyed this book; (1) = means I finished reading it but wonder if my time could have been better spent elsewhere.
Sean King and Michelle Maxwell were both Secret Service Agents assigned to protect a Presidential candidate. Eight years separate the two agents.
King’s candidate, Clyde Ritter, was assassinated by Arnold Ramsay, a college professor. Maxwell’s candidate, John Bruno, was kidnapped by people unknown to anyone. King manages to kill the assassin. Maxwell left her candidate alone for a split second and he is kidnapped. The adventure begins.
In spite of the time that separates both events, they were so similar the two agents gravitated together as they sought to find out who and why the killing and kidnapping occurred. Michelle was intrigued with what King had done and began asking questions about the assassination. She interviews Loretta Baldwin about what happened and Loretta is killed by a mysterious man.
Joan Dillinger, King’s former lover and Secret Service agent, appears on the scene. She has quit the Secret Service and is now a successful private Investigator. She is hired by Bruno’s wife, a very wealthy woman, to find out what happened to John – dead or alive. Joan recruits King to join her on this lucrative venture. So King, Maxwell and Dillinger find themselves in the vortex of a complicated attempt by the kidnappers and killers to replicate the assassination of Clyde Ritter and avenge the killing of Arnold Ramsay by involving all the people related to these two men. As always, Baldacci manages to hold your attention to the end of the book! (5)
This was my introduction to Dan Brown. He mixes fact and fantasy in this murder thriller. Certainly more interesting than church historians and theologians. U.S. News & World Reports (Dec. 22, 2003) has a good review of this book.
Jacques Sauniere, a Curator at the Louvre museum in Paris, is killed in the first chapter. Robert Langdon, a Professor of Religious Symbology from Harvard, was at American University in Paris as a visiting lecturer. He is summoned to the murder scene in the middle of the night by the police. Jacques’s body was found spread eagled naked on the floor; his arms and legs stretched out. His clothing folded neatly and piled on the floor. A Star of David was drawn on his chest and a cryptic message scratched on the floor next to the body with his blood. Unbeknownst to him Langdon is a prime suspect. Everything he says is being secretly recorded;he thinks he is there to help the police figure out the bazaar symbolism and message etched on Jacques’ body and on the floor. Who killed him and why?
In the middle of the interview Sophie Neveu rushes into the museum and tells Langdon the American Embassy had an emergency message and he should call them right away. Sophie is a police cryptographer. Robert calls the number and a recorded message tells him to listen to her carefully. He is in grave danger. The voice is that of Sophie. She is convincing and she gives him directions on what to do. He believes her and follows her instructions – we are off on a great adventure!
We learn that Jacques Sauniere was Sophie’s grandfather and in his dying moments left a message for her; only she can understand its significance. The police chief resents her appearance and when she disappears with Langdon, he decides that both of them are wanted in the investigation of Jacques Sauniere’s murder. Their pictures are posted in the papers and on television. They are wanted by the police for questioning. The couple has to avoid capture while at the same time try to figure out the meaning of the grandfather’s message.
Brown’s interpretation of Leonardo DaVinci’s theological position is suspect. He suggests there are hidden symbols in many of DaVinci’s works that mock the teachings of the Catholic Church. The Last Supper appears to be a beautiful rendering of Jesus and the 12th disciple is a woman hidden on the right side of Jesus. Really? We don’t know that! There are twelve wine glasses on the table instead of one “Chalice.” There was no single “Holy Grail” or “Chalice.” Mary Magdalene is the Holy Grail! And she was pregnant with Jesus’ child. There is, of course, no historical evidence on any of this but hey – this is a work of fiction. Read and enjoy!
Brown questions the influence of the Council of Nicea of 325 CE and the impact Constantine had upon a basic teaching of the Church, viz, the humanity and divinity of Jesus. One infers that Constantine had forced the bishops to settle these differnces since Jesus was thoroughly human, married and sired a child with Mary who sat on the right side of Jesus in DaVinci’s Last Supper. The debate had to be resolved for the unity of the empire. Of course no one can prove this either way. (5)
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